via negativa
Knowing through denial
Via negativa is a Latin phrase meaning "by way of negation," describing an approach to understanding something by stating what it is not rather than what it is.
The term originates in theology, where mystics described God by denying all limited attributes: God is not finite, not knowable, not expressible.
The method has spread to other domains, including philosophy and practical decision-making, where eliminating what doesn't work often proves more reliable than pursuing what might.
His investment strategy follows the via negativa—avoid obvious mistakes rather than chase winners.
Impossible to understand
- ineffableBeyond verbal expression
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- unknowableImpossible to understand
- inexpressibleCannot be put into words
indescribable · unspeakable · ungraspable · mystery · paradox
Denial or cancellation
- denialRefusal to accept reality
- absenceState of not being
- unknowingLacking awareness or information
- unsayingRetracting spoken words
removal · stripping · subtraction · elimination · Pseudo-Dionysius · affirmation · attributes · essence
Sustained reflective attention
- silenceTotal lack of sound
- darknessTotal absence of light
- voidWithout legal effect
- emptinessAbsence of substance
ineffability · transcendence · detachment · unknowing · surrender · purification · asceticism · monasticism
Lack of complexity
- renunciationFormal surrender of claim
- non-attachmentFreedom from possessive clinging
- minimalismAesthetic of reduction
- eliminationAct of removing entirely
subtraction · restraint · reduction · decluttering · fasting · silence · stillness · pruning
incomprehensible
Impossible to understand
- ineffableBeyond verbal expression
- unfathomableBeyond comprehension or measurement
- unknowableImpossible to understand
inexpressible · indescribable · unspeakable · ungraspable · mystery · paradox
negation
Denial or cancellation
unsaying · removal · stripping · subtraction · elimination · Pseudo-Dionysius · affirmation · attributes · essence · predication
contemplation
Sustained reflective attention
emptiness · ineffability · transcendence · detachment · unknowing · surrender · purification · asceticism · monasticism · hermit
simplicity
Lack of complexity
- renunciationFormal surrender of claim
- non-attachmentFreedom from possessive clinging
- minimalismAesthetic of reduction
elimination · subtraction · restraint · reduction · decluttering · fasting · silence · stillness · pruning · inversion
- mysticismmystic, gnosis, divine union, divine spark, mystical
- apophatic theologyunsaying, unknowing, negation, ineffability, incomprehensibility
- Christian Mysticismmystical union, divine union, contemplative life, dark night of the soul, mystical states
- Medieval MysticismHildegard of Bingen, divine union, mystical union, Gelassenheit, Godhead